Laurel Elisabeth Stevens

I first heard Bryan Stevenson, defense attorney and founder of Equal Justice Initiative (EJI) on a podcast with Oprah Winfrey .   I felt like I was sitting in a living room talking with a friend. I was immediately grateful for the stories Bryan told and for the honesty with which he told them. I was humbled. Growing up, I had put people in boxes--in categories in my head--if you're in jail it's because you're a bad person. If you do drugs, you must be a bad person. But when I learned about my older brother's drug and alcohol addiction and how that changed his life, the boxes I put people in began to shift and crumble, and that shifting has changed my life. Listening to Bryan Stevenson continued to shift the boxes--why are some people on death row, why are so many of them black and brown. Why are so many of them from impoverished backgrounds. Just Mercy tells the story of how Bryan Stevenson founded Equal Justice Initiative to provide legal representation for those w...

Jemar Tisby brings us on a tour through the decades, starting in 1667 when the Virginia General Assembly encouraged masters t o evangelize their slaves, without fear of having to grant them their freedom, given that "the conferring of baptism does not alter the c ondition of the person as to his bondage or freedom." (pg. 25).  Year piling on year, Tisby shows us how the church in America has not simply overlooked racism, but has participated in, encouraged and upheld racist practices, both explicit and entrenched.  "What do you think," I once heard a teacher ask a group of high school students in a Christian School, "What was the better way, Martin L uther King or the Black Panthers?" Students eagerly explained that MLK definitely was better "because he was peaceful. The Black Panthers were violent, and you can't do that."  I hoped the teacher would ask some clarifying ques tions, or press her students to dig a little deeper. I hoped s...

I am sharing this week and in posts to follow a few influences--videos, books, people, places, stories--that have helped me notice my blindspots with regard to racial justice . The story is ever growing. In fact, sometimes the more I learn, the harder it is to write. So I'll just start here, hoping that if I tell one or two stories it could be a way forward to you reading or telling one or two more stories, and that could be a way forward for all of us.   In the spring of 2016 a friend of mine, Liz Crusey, led a group of members from Grace Presbyterian Church on a vision trip to Lebanon to learn about a group of Lebanese Christian ministries there.  We were joined by Mike Higgins, an African American pastor from St. Louis and chaplain of Covenant Theological Seminary.  During the trip I noticed that Mike kept talking about someone named Michael Brown and I started thinking, Who's this guy, Michael Brown? Is this a friend? A guy from his church? I eventually realiz...

I am sharing this week and in posts to follow, a few influences--videos, books, people, places, stories--that have helped me notice my blindspots with regard to racial justice. The story is ever growing. In fact, sometimes the more I learn, the harder it is to write. So I'll just start here, hoping that if I tell one or two stories, it could be a way forward to you reading or telling one or two more stories, and that could be a way forward for all of us.  I remember sitting on the couch with my seven-year old daughter and reading to her The Story of Ruby Bridges . Ruby, a brave black girl whose parents were perhaps even braver, to agree to let her integrate the William Frantz Elementary School in New Orleans in 1960. My daughter studied the watercolor illustrations of the angry white parents yelling at Ruby as she walked into the school protected by federal marshals.  I remember uncomfortable shock at the teacher who criticized Ruby for talking back to the mob, when in fact Ru...

I wrote the following litany of repentance two weeks after George Floyd's death--during the maddening, unending isolation of COVID-19, watching online church services after hot Sunday morning walks with the family. I'm grateful for those who have spoken into my life and helped me see the need for lament and confession, for that is what this is. I believe the Holy Spirit uses diverse means to do this and for me it's primarily been through relationships and stories. We cannot lament and grieve until we have started to see the extent of our sin, both corporate and individual. We learn by taking a hard look at our history and listening to those whose lived experiences are different from ours.  Scripture is replete with examples of grief, lament and repentance surrounding an awareness of sin, both corporate and individual (to name a few: Psalm 51, Nehemiah 1:5-7, 9:2, Daniel 9, I John 1:8-10).    While God calls all to repentance, I believe that my position in the...